"Married?!"
Shane froze, wondering if he'd misheard.
That slick old Macao—who lived in the guild with a drink in his hand and whose favorite hobby was flirting with newcomers—got married?
He stared, eyes wide, utterly incredulous. "I saw him just a couple days ago and there wasn't even a hint of it. How did it happen so suddenly? Who is she?"
Wakaba took a long drag from his pipe, his gaze dark and sour. "I've seen the woman. She's totally not Macao's type, and their personalities don't match either… and yet he went and held the wedding in secret."
Hearing all that bitterness, Shane finally understood Wakaba's complicated look earlier—classic "I'm afraid my buddy will suffer, but I'm also afraid my buddy will start driving a luxury SUV" energy.
The purest form of trash-friend mentality.
Shane thought about it, then—since he didn't know what the local customs were exactly—he just went to the bar and bought two bottles of expensive liquor.
"Here—catch!"
He tossed them to Wakaba. "Consider it my and Erza's wedding gift. Bring it to him for me."
"Oho!"
Wakaba fumbled to catch the bottles, glanced at the price tag, and clicked his tongue in wonder. "Man, you're generous. Macao can't even bring himself to drink stuff this pricey normally. Now that he's married, he'll have even more expenses—he's gonna be even more broke. Hah!"
He grinned wickedly, already imagining himself showing up tomorrow morning with these bottles just to watch his buddy suffer.
Shane could only shake his head at the shameless chain-smoking uncle.
He turned and waved at Erza, who was still briefing Natsu and Gray on the details of the wyvern hunt. "Let's go, Erza. We're heading home."
"Coming!"
Erza gave the two idiots a final warning, then quickly caught up to Shane.
On the way back, moonlight stretched their shadows long across the road.
Shane had his hands laced behind his head, still thinking about why hunting the two-legged wyverns hadn't helped at all with Lancer's unlock.
"Is it because a 'wyvern' is basically an imitation—its draconic bloodline is too thin to count? Does it have to be a true dragon like Igneel?"
But if that was the case, why did Erza still cause ripples in his mind-sea?
While he was thinking, Erza suddenly asked, "What were you talking about with Wakaba?"
Shane snapped out of it. "Oh, that. Macao got married without telling anyone."
"Married?!"
At the word, Erza's steps abruptly halted, and her voice jumped up about eight octaves.
Shane turned, baffled. Her cheeks were flaming red, her body went all awkward and fidgety, and her eyes wouldn't settle anywhere—nothing like her usual cool, dashing self.
"It's Macao getting married, not you! Why are you the one freaking out?" Shane couldn't help blurting out.
Erza didn't hear a word. She'd fully vanished into her own world.
Both hands pressed to her burning cheeks, she trudged forward muttering things like "too fast" and "I'm not ready" under her breath.
Shane watched her back and felt his mouth twitch.
He wasn't oblivious to Erza's clumsy, budding affection for him. He just… liked how things were now. It was comfortable. And Erza seemed to enjoy this closeness too—intimate, but not crossing any line too far—so he'd been letting it flow naturally.
He just hadn't expected her to react that strongly to the word "marriage."
For someone with basically zero romantic common sense—someone who'd happily share a bath without blinking—she was weirdly pure in this one specific direction.
After that, their days settled into a lazy rhythm: one request, three days of rest.
If a mission sounded fun, they'd sometimes call in Natsu, Gray, or Cana to form a party.
The only thing Shane found disappointing was that he deliberately took a few more "dragon-related" jobs like the wyvern one—and none of them helped.
At this point, he was basically sure:
Those "dragons" that were really just big lizards did absolutely nothing for Lancer's vision unlock.
Meanwhile, the "Erza-brand charging pack" effect stayed stable.
Because they were doing missions together so often, and because nights in the wilderness or inns meant they naturally spent more time close together, the "charging" got to work at full capacity.
The heartlight buildup sped up far beyond his original estimate.
During this period, Shane's Agility smoothly broke through to D.
Since he'd already had the experience of "being" an Heroic Spirit, he adapted quickly to the speed and reaction time he'd once possessed.
What took longer was when his Magic Power caught up and rose to D−—that sense of fullness was so overwhelming it took him a full two days to completely stabilize.
With steady accumulation, Shane's overall stats—aside from Magic Power—finally hit an unprecedented milestone: every attribute at D-rank.
That didn't just mean he could maintain True Name Release for longer.
More importantly, it meant that even without using a class card, his raw physical ability alone had reached the minimum standard of an "Heroic Spirit."
That kind of tangible progress made Shane deeply satisfied—like he hadn't wasted his days.
Time flew. In a blink, it was already early October.
After resting at home for two days, Shane brought Erza to the guild as usual to pick a new request.
But the moment he reached the request board, Makarov called out to him.
"Shane. Erza."
The old man had his hands behind his back, expression serious. "For the next couple of days, don't take any requests."
"Why?" Shane looked genuinely confused.
Being banned from requests was usually a privilege reserved for the guild's most catastrophic troublemakers.
He'd been so well-behaved this past month—no mistakes, just steady mission work. There was no way this should apply to him.
"Idiot! Because the Harvest Festival is in a couple of days, obviously!"
A loud, familiar voice boomed from behind.
Shane turned—and raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Harvest Festival? And… Gildarts, you're back?"
Shane had heard the master mention the festival before, but he'd never really learned what it involved.
"Celebrating this year's harvest and praying for next year's good luck," Gildarts explained, unusually serious for once.
"It's Magnolia's biggest holiday—its grandest moment of the year. Of course I came back."
Makarov nodded too, looking a little wistful. "Last year was lively. The magic parade went beautifully. It's a shame you weren't here to see it."
Then he looked around at everyone, grin turning eager. "But this year we've got a lot of new blood. You, Erza, Laki, and that kid who breathes fire all day—Natsu… it should be even more fun!"
"Exactly!"
Cana popped up out of nowhere, striking a "senior member" pose and holding up one finger like she was giving a lecture.
"Fairy Tail—being Magnolia's only official guild—has to host a massive magic parade that day!"
"It's famous across all of Fiore! People travel from other cities just to watch!"
Shane flicked a glance at Cana.
For some reason, whenever Gildarts was around, Cana's mood went to extremes—either hyperactive, or sulking in a corner like a storm cloud.
But that wasn't the point right now.
Shane looked at Makarov uncertainly. "So you mean—"
"Yup!"
Makarov slapped the air with one hand. "All of you, start preparing your performances for the parade! You've gotta amaze the visitors!"
"What a pain…" Shane scratched his head and sighed.
He'd much rather sit in the crowd eating snacks than be the one performing.
But beside him, Erza's eyes lit up instantly.
"A performance? A surprise?"
She looked thrilled—like she was already imagining ten different flashy routines.
Shane took one look at that expression and felt his soul leave his body.
He grabbed her hand and leaned in, whispering urgently, "Don't tell me you're going to showcase those weird outfits you collected."
Erza turned to him with a clear, innocent "How did you know?" look.
"…."
Shane stared up at the sky.
As the one and only victim of those cursed costumes, he still vividly remembered how insane they were.
Dolphin suit. Tree-stump suit.
If she wore those in a parade… the image was too beautiful—and too horrifying—to imagine.
He took a deep breath, put both hands on Erza's shoulders, and said with absolute seriousness:
"No matter what—pick a different act."
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 120 Chapters Ahead of Others!